‘Last French player standing’: Roland Garros crowd adopts Ukraine’s Svitolina

When Anna Blinkova battled her way into the third round at Roland Garros, ousting the local favourite Caroline Garcia, the young Russian must have thought she had weathered the worst of the French Open’s raucous fans.

The crowd at her next match, however, turned out to be just as partisan.

There were no French players left in the draw by the time Blinkova took on Ukraine’s Svitolina on Court Simonne-Mathieu. But her opponent might as well have been sporting the French tricolour, such was the support she enjoyed.

Svitolina later credited the crowd, which included her husband and local favourite Gaël Monfils, with inspiring her thrilling 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 victory – her second fightback from a set down at this year’s French Open.

She did much the same two days later after ousting another Russian, the ninth seed Daria Kasatkina, in two hard-fought sets (6-4, 7-6), to the delight of a packed Court Suzanne Lenglen, the tournament’s second showpiece arena.

“I’m just thankful to the crowd to be there for me,” said the 28-year-old after the match. “In some matches I was a set down, but they were cheering me on and giving me this push and this hope that I can come back and win.”

She added, smiling: “Last French player standing.”

Svitolina’s remarkable run at Roland Garros, just eight months after she gave birth, has provided the fairy tale French fans were craving after the latest dismal campaign by home players.

The host country fielded a total of 28 players in singles this year, none of whom made it past the second round. The debacle came as France marked 40 years since Yannick Noah’s 1983 triumph, the last time a Frenchman won on the Paris clay.

Svitolina got a taste of the French public’s affection in the run-up